Um said doctors seem to be seeing more cases similar to this, in which a failing heart heals itself. "The interesting thing is that if he had gotten a transplant right away, we would have never known if he could have recovered on his own," Um said. "Now that we have technology that allows people to remain on external heart machines longer, we could see this more.

"In the simplest terms, Dr. Um explained, the heart got sick, triggering an immune response that shut the heart down to fight the infection, and eventually healed itself. Technology kept Crowe's body alive while his heart healed.

Although there could be effects on his heart in the future, Dr. Um said young people who suffer from acute heart problems like Crowe's tend to make a full recovery, healing fully.

As reported in the worldwide media and various medical literature, some cardiac patients, who were extremely ill, and who had an LVAD (heart pump to assist the left ventricle) implanted, were able to stay alive long enough until a heart became available, or were able to avoid a heart transplant completely, as being on an LVAD (and then having it explanted/removed) helped to reverse some of the damage done to the heart, allowing one to live as near a normal life as humanly possible.

Um said doctors seem to be seeing more cases similar to this, in which a failing heart heals itself. "The interesting thing is that if he had gotten a transplant right away, we would have never known if he could have recovered on his own," Um said. "Now that we have technology that allows people to remain on external heart machines longer, we could see this more.

"In the simplest terms, Dr. Um explained, the heart got sick, triggering an immune response that shut the heart down to fight the infection, and eventually healed itself. Technology kept Crowe's body alive while his heart healed.

Although there could be effects on his heart in the future, Dr. Um said young people who suffer from acute heart problems like Crowe's tend to make a full recovery, healing fully.

As reported in the worldwide media and various medical literature, some cardiac patients, who were extremely ill, and who had an LVAD (heart pump to assist the left ventricle) implanted, were able to stay alive long enough until a heart became available, or were able to avoid a heart transplant completely, as being on an LVAD (and then having it explanted/removed) helped to reverse some of the damage done to the heart, allowing one to live as near a normal life as humanly possible.

My wife and I were having a quiet dinner, with the TV audio barely audible, and when we saw a 3D CT scan image of a heart pop up on the screen, I grabbed the remote and cranked it up, as it was truly a story not to be missed.

My wife and I were having a quiet dinner, with the TV audio barely audible, and when we saw a 3D CT scan image of a heart pop up on the screen, I grabbed the remote and cranked it up, as it was truly a story not to be missed.

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